2024 Week 10 Results
November Nights
There is no better time to be a college football fan than in November every year. These last 4-5 weeks are when teams solidify themselves as real or crumble under pressure as a fraud. Oregon and Miami have had two polar opposite routes to remaining undefeated. The Ducks feel like they’re barely breaking a sweat, while Miami has been through more battles than a 40-year-old on a U.S. history binge. Army and Indiana have been the two most fun undefeated stories of the year, though both have played a schedule easier than Michigan’s inaugural football season. The nights get darker and the lights get brighter in November, so it’s time for them to show up or start asking Penn State fans for advice on how to get through these times. BYU is the last undefeated team and has quietly made their way to the driving seat of a playoff bye, and reports say that bunk bed construction is at an all-time high in Provo. Cherish these next few weeks, they are as good as we get.
In the Pick ‘Em we certainly felt a down week for scores and the Public’s run seems to have finally ended, for the most part. Just two weeks ago we had 9 entries at 9-1 or better and 39 entries of 40 points or more. This week we had just 4 records of 7-3 or better and 4 entries of 40 points or more. That is with the highest single team point total hitting for the Public this week too. An ugly as hell slate gave us an ugly as hell final board and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Welcome to the mud, everyone. It’s time to get comfortable. Let’s get into the games recap.
We had three noon games with one of the biggest games of the year starting it off. The Penn State white out is one of the best games of the year and with Ohio State coming in it was sure to be an absolutely electric atmosphere. But the tailgating marathon becomes a sprint when that game is 8 hours earlier and that heart runs out a lot quicker in the daylight than the night. I have been a proponent of the conference, transfer portal, and playoff changes helping college football more than ever all season long, but the one horrible change this year are the new TV deals. We have lost 3:30 SEC on CBS kicks, after dark games, added more streaming only games than ever, and now Big Noon Kickoff has their time to shine.
The game should have been at night. Simple as that. But it didn’t affect the result. Penn State is the same team every year. This game surprised exactly 0 people. The most surprising element is how Penn State simply can continue to exist in this state eternally. They’ll make the playoff and be excited about it but we all know what will happen. It wasn’t a very exciting game but this moment below was a great microcosm of the last 15 years.
As mentioned earlier, Miami is officially our fuck-shit team of the year. Every game is chaos. Cam Ward probably deserves the Heisman just for avoiding the Miami collapse so far, because they have had their Miami collapse game about 5 times already this season. Duke was playing frisky and Malik Murphy looked like the 5 star recruit he was for 3 quarters of this game. Even going up double digits in the 3rd.
And everyone hold your pants here.
Then entering the 4th quarter they were down 4 with a goal to go situation looking to re-take the lead.
Duke would go onto not only lose this game, but fail to cover 20.5 as Miami scored three touchdowns to win 53-31. An unbelievable collapse from up 10 in the 2nd half to not covering a three touchdown spread. Miami does it again. O’Doyle rules.
We had another Troops battle in the 3rd noon slot as Army took on Air Force. Army was our largest picked team of the week with 86(!) entries having the ground Troops. But one thing we all know about a Troop battle…
It will be a hard fought defensive battle and a spread of 21.5 is a lot to cover. Especially when neither team scores more than 20 points. Army wins handily 20-3 but the spread goes to the air Troops. Shoutout to the 2nd coolest helmets of the season though:
Three of our other undefeated teams played in the afternoon slot, and the week did not start off well for one of their opponents.
Oregon had a lot of backers this week with 83 entries picking them, and it was rightfully so on the scoreboard, but Michigan pickers look away because this one was an ugly loss. Not only was Oregon getting gifted touchdowns that were dropped balls:
But up 14 with under 30 seconds left and the game firmly in hand, Oregon was still running their offense on 3rd and goal.
Oregon is out here to win games and cover spreads. An unreal finish for both sides here. Ducks quack on.
Our 2nd undefeated in that window did not have such great luck. Iowa State carried a -13.5 spread and a 7-0 game into a home battle with Texas Tech. This was a game where Iowa State was never fighting for a spread cover but just to keep themselves alive with a win. Late in the game though Texas Tech sprinkled us with some early November chaos.
What are we gonna do about Indiana? They are not just covering games, they are giving the Public the freest points of their lives week after week. There were an easily high 621 confidence points on Indiana this week. Having won 8 games but double digits, Vegas finally decided to give them a spread over a touchdown for once, but only up to 7.5. Indiana steam rolls all game and wins 47-10. They have two big games coming up but my goodness we must recognize Cignetti every week because a LOT of schools are going to be begging for them to go hire him soon.
And I mentioned the schedule earlier, but a lot of comparisons are starting to come out about a recent Big Ten team that was pretty good even with a bad schedule. A longer tweet linked here too.
The worlds largest cocktail party rounded out the afternoon slate. Florida gave us all a nice safety message in one of the best trolls of the year.
But I do not think they followed that advice.
Florida kept this game close and even had it tied in the 4th quarter. Georgia gets two late TD’s in the 4th to win by 14 but not really sniff the 16.5 point spread. Another big loss for the Pool’s Public as only 35 people for 121 confidence points backed the gators.
The night slate was carnage across the board, with all three lower picked teams covered their spread.
A top 10 7-1 ranked A&M went into the Cocks den and they met a fate not uncommon to SEC hopefulls.
South Carolina ROLLED A&M 44-20 and my lord did that place look electric.
While Clemson, Miami, and SMU all don’t play each other this year, Louisville has the unfortunate draw of having to play all three of them. The Cards came into the season very hopeful and with a solid roster, but the schedule has caught up to them. But they were due and Clemson came in a little too hot having dominated a handful of weak ACC teams. Louisville looked in control all game and were clipping the Tigers at certain points.
Either the Clemson fans are quick to lose heart or Dabo had scheduled a prayer session a little earlier than he should have but they weren’t having it Saturday.
Louisville takes down Clemson 33-21 as 10.5 point dogs on the road. Clemson’s season may have just ended mere hours into November.
The final game gave us another undefeated team, and as November does, it showed us a fraud. Pitt went into SMU as 7-0 and 7.5 point dog, and SMU showcased exactly why they are deserving of a TD+ spread against an undefeated team.
The Ponies roll on at 8-1 with a lone loss to BYU and in full control of an ACC title birth.
And that will conclude our Week 10 slate. Travis B. takes the 1st place win for the week with the lone 8-2 record for 47 points, and in 2nd place we have Will F. wat 6-4 for 44 points. Travis picks up his 2nd win of the season and Will F. secures his Wild Card spot.
And on the Wild Card, we are officially locked in and live! We have 41 members competing for 2 payouts over the span of the final 5 weeks. Each week those still eligible will be automatically entered into a side pool, their side pool pots will be reset each week and the lowest 8 eliminated each week. Since we expanded to 41 mid week, the first week will eliminate the lowest 9 scores. So each week we will go from:
Week 11: 41 entries
Week 12: 32
Week 13: 24
Week 14: 16
Week 15: Final 8 with top 2 paid out.
Check the standings page below to see if you secured it!
We are onto Week 11! A poll will be put up on Tuesday as needed.
Check out the latest full standings here.